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Snake in the grass


Filed: Thursday, 4th September 2008
By: Staff Writer

Kia Joorabchian has backed the board of West Ham following Alan Curbishley's resignation.

Joorabchian, whose attempt to buy West Ham United in 2006 ended in failure is now working with the club as 'transfer adviser' after a deal was struck between the two parties in an out of court settlement earlier this year - a settlement that prevented the Iranian businessman from suing the club for lost earnings totalling £7.1million relating to the transfer of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

Talking to the BBC, he revealed that he felt sympathy for Curbishley - before accusing him of being out of touch with the modern game.

"I feel for Alan because he's a manager who resigned under pressure," said Joorabchian. "But now the game is so competitive that I think every manager understands that there are three major issues.

"One, you have to succeed in the transfer window. Second, you have show that you have a winning side and thirdly, when you're at a club like West Ham you have to play good football as well because they [the fans] want to see the beautiful game.

"I think it's very sad what happened to West Ham in the last year. This current board left it in the hands of someone they assumed was capable and things went wrong. Now consulting the board, I'd like to see West Ham have a successful season.

"The situation with Alan was that in the last two years he has been the person that has made most of the decisions in regards to the incomings of Boa Morte and Nigel Quashie, Kieron Dyer, Ljungberg etc - the list goes on. He was very much involved in those. It was pretty clear cut.

"I think the board has had a very difficult task this year. If you have a lot of players on high salaries that are not very productive the first stage is to release some of that structure in order to be able to get into the transfer market again.

"The board have to balance the books. When we look at a figure of around £6million for George McCartney and £8million for Anton Ferdinand, it's a very tough number to reject when you think that City bought Argentinian international Pablo Zableta for around £7million. When you look around, it becomes a tough thing for the board to reject."

Joorabchian also gave further insight into his role at West Ham United - a role that the club's board, for reasons unknown, have never seen fit to publicise.

"I'm a consultant to West Ham so don't get involved in board decisions or sit on board meetings," he added. "I'm just an outside adviser who advises them on transfers and other football decisions that they want to make.

"We will discuss the targets they are looking for and potential ways of getting them. Since the Magnusson reign the board realised there were a lot of mistakes made during that period.

"I guess the salaries that were being given and the players brought in were probably not what the board's idea was on taking the club forward. As you can see this year it's been a very costly situation for them having to terminate the contracts of Ljungberg and other players.

"We took a back role in the McCartney transfer, I was personally not involved but my company was. We don't really get involved in masses of players or try to take control of clubs. Our business model is a little bit different, we don't expect the clubs to take a risk as we take the risks - as in the case of Mascherano and Tevez.

"But what is essential is that if you bring in a sporting director or adviser, they have to support the manager - they have to be a team, have a good unit. Rather than the director or consultant being on the board side he should be behind the manager helping and aiding the manager in picking and identifying players."


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   arrow   The Egg cracks [18th Dec 2008]
   arrow   'No confidence' vote in board [31st Oct 2008]
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   arrow   Decision imminent [8th Sep 2008]
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Your Comments


by Martn McCarthy
12:40PM 5th Sep 2008
''I had no idea he was still involved with our club. Snake in the grass is about right. How can he be a 'transfer consultant' when his sheer amateurism almost got us relegated?

Obviously he's still employed as part of the 'Tevezgate' saga, probably to keep him quiet. I can't believe the BBC give credence to his comments as he's so obviously in bed with the board. To me it just shows up some of the dirty dealings this club is getting involved with. The only way this club can gain any self respect back is to come clean on what's really going on and get rid of slimy little toads like Joorabchian. I'd rather it cost us a few quid now than have the spectre of this fool hanging over us for evermore.

Curbs was right to walk and I wish him all the best of luck in the future. I hope his replacement will take none of this nonsense and gets to pick his own team - for better or for worse''

by g portugal
09:35AM 5th Sep 2008
''To a large extent Curbishley should not be blamed for the transfers. For a start some of them were made in desperation to avoid relegation and in that sense it worked. Following survival players were brought in to ensure that we did not get in a relegation battle again, no longer having the services of Tevez. And in that sense as well, it worked. We finished tenth, having been top half for the bulk of the season, despite a huge injury list.

Were some of the purchases injury prone? Yes, of course they were. But we beat relegation , and the following season finished 10th, so clearly some of what the manager did regarding transfers and style of football worked.

Would I have preferred us to have played a more adventurous style of football last term? Of course. But the mission last term was to improve markedly on the previous season's relegation battle. And we did that, even if it wasn't pretty to watch.

If the WHU board had issues with any of Curbishley's purchases, either in terms of cost, quality or vulnerability to injury, why did the board not voice complaints at the time and block the transfers if it didn't feel it was getting value for money?

As for transfers, how many quality players would be keen to join a side that so narrowly escaped relegation, especially when the star man, Tevez was not going to be there any more? And in today's market, what kind of quality could Curbishley be expected to bring in when the most WHU spent on a player was approximately 7 million pounds?

The responsibility lies with the Board, and Joorabchian is wrong to lay the blame at Curbishley's door.''

by Kevin
01:51AM 5th Sep 2008
''A very sad day for Curbishley and club. This whole thing has been handled appallingly by the Board and the pressure the media put on Curbishley was completely unwarranted. Whilst he may have deficiencies (like we all do) I will always admire Curbs. I enjoyed watching him play and keeping us in the Premiership was an achievement many managers/coaches will not come close to in their whole careers.

The fact is that the trend is for managers not make the decisions anymore and that creates inherent instability. Having said that West Ham have consistently made bad buying decisons since I have supported them in 1970 and there has to be a step change in the way we do business. If McCartney did not hand in a transfer request we have been lied to as supporters.

I am really concerned about the role of Mr Joorabchian. I love this club and wish we played like we did in the days of Brooking, Devonshire, Cottee and McAvennie but I know the style game will never be like that again so at the very least we have to be competitive and I cannot see a better available manager - I really hope I am wrong.

People and relationships are the most important thing in life and this club is failing this ideal. Keep blowing bubbles.''

by Rik
08:06PM 4th Sep 2008
''Why has Joorabchian got anything to do with our football club, get him out. What exactly is it he has over us?''

by cybersheep666
04:49PM 4th Sep 2008
''Remember the Cold War? Aint West Ham being run like the old Russsia? Too many secrets, not knowing what's going on, not knowing who's responsible for what, who's in charge? if you're anything like me call it complete CONFUSION! I LOVE WEST HAM but at the mo just very disappointed.''

by Ian R
02:35PM 4th Sep 2008
''Worrying times. Who of any quality is going to be interested in coming to a place where they don't seem to be able to make the decision on who comes and goes? I understand that the game has changed and it's run as a business but how can someone be expected to be responsible for a team that they apparently only have a little influence in shaping?

I don't know but I would imagine Curbs would not disagree with the fact GM should go but it's the way things seem to have been done that pushed him to make the decision. Respect and good luck to him.

As for Joorabchian, he should go crawl back into the corner where the board mugged him off to shut him up. I reckon he's just using this to raise his profile.''

by Ali Flint
01:45PM 4th Sep 2008
''"But now the game is so competitive that I think every manager understands that there are three major issues.

"One, you have to succeed in the transfer window"

How could curbs have been succesful if he wasn't allowed to make the transfer and Nani was?!''

by TomP
01:26PM 4th Sep 2008
''What does that upstart know? Remember, this is the man who was involved in one of Brazil's greatest football teams which as a result are now playing in the Second Division for the first time in their history. Just reading his comments shows how little he knows about football in general and West Ham in particular.

Alan Curbishley is one of the best managers around (and a quality coach to boot!) with tremendous experience. Kia Joorabchian is just an opportunist and a profiteer. All he knows is how to line his own pockets. Footballers are just tradeable commodities to him; that's all. Anybody who takes a blind bit of notice to what Joorabchian says is a fool. Unfortunately, that's what the West Ham board are now doing.

The sort of manager that West Ham are now after is another Glenn Roeder; one who will not stand in the way of West Ham offloading its best players.

As far as I'm concerned we have missed a great opportunity for Alan Curbishley to consolidate the quality players into a team that could push for a European place. I don't blame him for leaving.''

by Ian Rivers
01:21PM 4th Sep 2008
''For me there are echoes of Harry's demise here. The board then lost faith in Harry's ability in the transfer market (how similar are Titi Camara and Louis Boa Morte?!) and similarly with Curbs LBM, Quashie, Ljungberg. Also Curbs' complete lack of rapport with players, fans and board all meant he just wasn't right for the job. The way we played reflected him ...dour. His complete desire for the safe ball meant we played dull football and inhibited our best players.

I blame Curbs for Noble's lack of progress, a manager that scared him into not wanting to make a mistake. Don't forget Curbs had Tevez on the bench for ages. He just wasn't a Curbishley player until Curbs reluctantly played him and the genius then became evident.''

by jonathan paul dunn
12:57PM 4th Sep 2008
''What is not clear is the extent to which Alan Curbishley was responsible in the past for the purchases of Quashie, Dyer, Davenport, Bellamy, Lundberg, Upson, Boa Morte, and Neill, and in particular the level of wages they were each given. If he was in part responsible for these decisions then I can understand why the board bought in Nani to clip his wings.

I also seem to recall that a decision was made to dispense with a number of Alan Pardew's backroom medical staff and replace them with people from Charlton and yet a year later the medical staff then bought in are now under critical examination/review. To what extent did Alan Curbishley contribute to these appointments as the clubs injury record has been lamentable.

I am no doubt not in tune with many on your site but Alan Curbishley is saying he was once responsible for player selection and now is not. If past signings were down to him then I feel based on some these signings he should have accepted a greater degree of control by the Board in the future. Our squad size and cost had become ludicrous and if someone misses most of pre-season with a 'virus' and then complains his wife is homesick then I agree he should be got rid of.''

by Jman
12:52PM 4th Sep 2008
''A tangled web we do weave when we plot to decieve comes to mind. Snake in the grass has it about right, doesn't make them look any better, in fact makes them look a lot worse. BG out.''

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